Behind the Glassed Door
by Forgetful Dreamer
Summary: She had built her life on a facade - a normal and ordinary life, but she couldn't fight her curiosity. Her endless obsession for answers pulled her straight into a life in the mafia, only a miracle could save her now.


Behind the Glassed Door

**DISCLAIMER**: Don't own anything besides the plot and the character. Regards to Akira Amano for creating such an awesome manga.

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><p>The first time she saw him. She was captivated with his immense presence that drew eyes towards him like flies to light. The intense power that radiated from his being was so obvious that people made way for him when he walked by.<p>

He was like a king. No - in her eyes - he **was** a king. Afterall, Squalo was a valuable specimen. He had incredible potential to do absolutely anything he put his mind to. His strength was incomparable to his peers; he was even intelligent and charismatic.

As an observer, Ada took great pride in being invisible, to remain unnoticed, to be hidden to those she oversaw. So imagine her surprise when she suddenly came face to face with him in the courtyard. Startled as she was, she maintained a poker face. She then bypassed him, and continued walking past him until something shocked her even more.

He had called her out with a "VOI!", or so she suspected. There was no one else to call for. The courtyard had been completely empty by now, most people had gone back home, it was because of that reason that she had purposely stayed to relax in the serene atmosphere it had.

Ada stared at him impassively, only a slight raise of one eyebrow to acknowledge his presence. He walked over to her and examined her from head to foot, narrowing his eyes. She could almost feel his eyes burning a hole on her, and she shifted her eyes to something else that was not him.

"WOMAN!" He barked, and Ada almost jumped back, her ears ringing from the loudness. Noticing this, he tried lowering his voice, but it still came out no less than a shout.

"You're the so called Adviser right?" She nodded slowly, getting a rough idea on what was coming.

The Adviser was what people had slowly begun calling her. It had become a sort of past time for her. From all her time people-watching, she had created her own theories as to what would happen if an individual took a particular action that would change their "path".

At times, she would test it out on her classmates, giving them advices that would lead to a "good path". She would come up to them and tell them to do certain things, at first, small things like unbuttoning the collar button of their shirt, or changing their lipstick from red to pink. At first they were hesitant, but after they tried it, she slowly but surely gained their trust. After a while, she gave more insightful advices like getting recruited to a family or choosing the right job, until she didn't even have to approach them, they would turn to her for answer, and she would give it for a price.

He eyed her with something akin to doubt, before giving out an annoyed snort and continuing. "How can I..."

Squalo then hesitated for a bit. His eyebrows narrowing even more, as if he couldn't form the right words to say. After a long pause, he finally continued. Ada had to strain her ears to hear, as he mumbled the words, clearly embarrassed in asking it.

"...make someone acknowledge me?"

_Acknowledgement?_

On the surface, Ada remained silent, but inwardly, various questions passed through her head. To answer him, she should first know who that person was. Who did he want acknowledgment from?

She rummaged her head for the right information. Squalo was prideful, for him to want acknowledge from someone means that, that someone was better than him. She had wondered, was it his family or a friend perhaps? She quickly shot down that idea. The person should be someone he does not know personally. If it was his family, then it would have been easier and more practical to ask a relative or not all. Either way, if it was someone he knew, then he wouldn't bother asking advice from a total stranger.

By asking Ada, would mean that he had exhausted all possible resources and also that he did not know that person well. Squalo was not the shy type either and he was also persistent. So he would have definitely approached that person several times before he finally gave up and came to her for advice. She retraced the past week and quickly took account of the people he had interacted with.

"Are you perhaps talking about...Xanxus?" Squalo gave no reply, but the slight twitch, gave her all the answers she needed.

Xanxus was a walking contradiction for Ada. He was highly intelligent, strong, and had a right to a very powerful position. But, at the same time, he was lazy and uninterested in the things happening around him. And although Xanxus was a candidate for becoming the boss of the Vongola family, from what she heard, he was last choice to be the successor.

And yet, there was that small part of her which was curious, begging to know more about the son of the Vongola boss. Even now Ada was confused to the reason why, was it because he was an illegitimate child to the respectable boss of the Vongola, or perhaps there was another deeper reason. In the end he was a mysterious being for Ada.

The stronger side of her squashed that thought away, hiding it in the very back of her mind. She reminded herself of her principle.

_Power is everything._

And she knew, Xanxus, as of now, held no such power. So she erased him from her mind, shaking her head, and quickly returned to the situation at hand.

"...Why not become the boss of the Varia?" She replied to white haired boy.

The Varia was an essential part of Vongola, the assassin squad was led by the Sword Emperor Tyr, and had, by itself, its own remarkable, if not infamous, reputation. It might make Xanxus aware of him, but the main reason she gave that suggestion was that she wanted to test Squalo's potential.

She was lost in her own thoughts as she speculated the time it would take for a victor to arise in that kind of battle. But it was more interesting to find out who would win in a fight between Squalo and Tyr.

Squalo, himself, was in his own train of thought, extremely quiet as he pondered over her advice. When the words finally settled in his mind, he straightened his back. Before Ada could utter another word, he quickly left.

He had forgotten to pay the price, but Ada imagined that he would pay it soon, in a different form*.

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><p>Two months later, rumors were flying on how Squalo would be the next boss of the Varia. Ada was ecstatic, eagerly waiting for more information to come out. She wanted to learn more on what had happened in the fight, but her only source of that information were her school mates, and they also barely new of the real hard facts.<p>

She had learned that Squalo had defeated the sword emperor after two whole days of fighting, but other than that, there was nothing. Her mood dampened, and she grew impatient. When the news did finally arrived, her mood only turned for the worse.

The Ninth Vongola boss had announce the chosen leader for the Varia.

It was Xanxus.

Finding out that the chosen leader was Xanxus, and not Squalo was hard to swallow. It was not because she had a bitter resentment to the hot tempered man, but because she had honestly expected that Squalo would be the one chosen. It was the first time she had made an incorrect assumption.

She was befuddled. Completely and utterly confused by the turn of events.

She tried to reason out how it happened, but this only led to another series of questions that begged for answers. She was sure of was that it wasn't because Squalo was incompetent.

But then what? What could have been the reason for this outcome.

The small part of her whispered, almost knowingly.

**Xanxus**.

Everything was about him. From the very moment that Squalo approached her. She knew she had to keep her eyes on him.

Her interested had begun shifting from Squalo to Xanxus.

Why did Xanxus get the Varia position?

Was it perhaps because the Ninth had no intention in giving Xanxus the position of the Vongola boss, so he purposely gave him the position of the Varia boss? If so, then why? Xanxus may be a bit spoiled and brutal to his peers, but one thing she was sure of, was his love for the Vongola family, and his charisma.

By giving him the position of Varia boss, gave him no chance for the Vongola boss, rather than just the last choice. Did the status of illegitimacy weigh that much to the eyes of the Vongola family?

Her obsession only grew deeper when she learned Squalo willingly became a subordinate to the man.

Who was Xanxus?

She thought she knew enough of him, but apparently not. He was without a doubt, an enigma.

Questions escalated to a terrifying number awaited her for the next six months. Each questions brought forth another set of questions that she knew she had no answer to.

Her annoyance led to her ignoring her surroundings, only barely eating and sleeping. Her time at school was spent thinking of answers. But that was to no avail.

At times, she would do things automatically, not even thinking over her actions. One time, she had covered the calculus book with butter, and putting it a toaster. Another time, she submitted a stray cat to her teacher as her homework.

During one such time on a quiet afternoon, a letter arrived to her.

A sad excuse of penmanship was what greeted her as soon as she saw the crisp white envelop; when she opened it, she had taken an hour deciphering the text, and another to absorb the implications. Once she did, she had spent the remaining hours muttering to herself about not knowing how to speak seven languages* before trying to burn the paper in her two-room apartment with a torch she found somewhere along the way home. Her roommate had panicked and screamed at her before saving the poor paper and probably the house.

She had snapped out of her self-induced trance afterwards. Night had already fallen, and she reread the letter. And soon her frustration disappeared. She had mulled it over and realized that if she couldn't find the answers by thinking over it, then she should investigate it personally.

Two days later, she would pick the half burnt paper, holding a small bag on the other hand, before leaving her apartment for a **long** trip.

After all, one does not simply learn six more languages in a day.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

* Squalo was a candidate as the boss of Varia after defeating the previous boss Tyr.

* Ada loved information, if he went with the plan, then she'll get the "price" she wanted; She is not particularly interested in money, only knowledge.

* Did You Know: To join the Varia, you had to speak a **minimum** of seven languages?

So there you have it, my new story "Behind the Glassed Door". This is probably the longest I've ever tried writing. (Or maybe it was because the other stories were immediately deleted afterwards...)

Hopefully I would get a beta-tester to help me with my grammatical errors...

Anyways, what did you think of it? R&R


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